CDW

Doc, all your hard work to clean up the "old-mold" Tamiya parts is paying dividends. It's building up to a very realistic, highly detailed model.

This is the 1:35 MiniArt SU-85 Soviet tank destroyer from the WW2 era. The kit reproduces the model with a full interior. There are more than 700 parts, making this kit a big heavy box of plastic. From Wikipedia: The SU-85 (Samokhodnaya ustanovka 85) was a Soviet self-propelled gun used during World War II, based on the chassis of the T-34 medium tank. Earlier Soviet self-propelled guns were meant to serve as either assault guns, such as the SU-122, or as tank destroyers; the SU-85 fell into the latter category. The designation "85" means the bore of the vehicle's armament, the 85 mm D-5T gun. Development history[edit] Early in World War II, Soviet tanks such as the T-34 and KV-1 had adequate firepower to defeat any of the German tanks then available. By the fall of 1942, Soviet forces began to encounter the new German Tiger tank, with armor too thick to be penetrated by the 76.2 mm guns used in the T-34 and KV tanks at a safe range.[2] The Soviet command also had reports of the Panther tank, that was in development then and possessed thicker armor than the Tiger; both represented an advance in German tank design. Although the Panther was not seen in combat until July 1943, the new generation of German vehicles meant the Red Army would need a new, more powerful main gun for their armoured formations. In May 1943, work was begun on a new anti-tank gun. Military planners directed the design bureaus of both Gen. Vasiliy Grabin and Gen. Fyodor Petrov to modify the 85 mm anti-aircraft gun for use as an anti-tank weapon. Petrov's bureau developed the D-5 85 mm gun. Though much too large for the T-34 or KV-1 turret, it was thought the gun could be mounted upon the chassis of the SU-122 self-propelled gun to give the weapon mobility. The version of this gun intended to be mounted upon the SU-85 was called the D-5S, with the "S" standing for self-propelled. Initially the production factory at Uralmash rejected the proposed design. Nevertheless, the administrators at Uralmash were persuaded to proceed, and the new design was put into production. The weapon was later modified to include a telescopic sight and a new ball gun mantlet. This vehicle was retitled the SU-85-II.[2] Description[edit] The SU-85 was a modification of the earlier SU-122 self-propelled howitzer, essentially replacing the 122 mm M-30S howitzer of the SU-122 with a D-5T high-velocity 85 mm antitank gun. The D-5T was capable of penetrating the Tiger I from 1000 m.[3] The vehicle had a low profile and excellent mobility. Initially given an armored commander's cap on the first batch, the SU-85's observational optics were improved by the introduction of a standard commander's cupola - the same as on the T-34/76 model 1942 - in addition to the already existing prismatic observation sights installed in left side and rear. On later vehicles, the same optics were added, allowing all-around observation.[4] Production history[edit] SU-85 (1944) SU-85 production started in mid-1943, with the first vehicles reaching their units by August. When the up-gunned T-34-85 medium tank entered mass production in the spring of 1944, there was no point in continuing production of a tank destroyer without superior firepower.[5] In light of this, SU-85 production was stopped in late 1944 after 2,650 vehicles had been produced. It was replaced on the production lines by the SU-100 tank destroyer, armed with the more powerful 100 mm D-10S gun, but due to delays with 100 mm ammo, a stopgap version called SU-85M appeared in September 1944, which was SU-100 fitted with 85 mm gun, already with thicker frontal armor and commander's cupola. Service history[edit] The SU-85 entered combat in August 1943. It saw active service across the Eastern Front until the end of the war. Though a capable weapon, it was found that its 85 mm weapon was not adequate to penetrate the armour of the larger German armoured fighting vehicles.[citation needed] It was replaced by the SU-100. The SU-85 was withdrawn from Soviet service soon after the war, and was exported to many Soviet client states in Europe and elsewhere. Some SU-85s were converted to use as command and recovery vehicles.[6] Countries such as North Korea and Vietnam kept it in service for many years.[7] Construction begins with a very well detailed drive train assembly. This is the Kharkiv Model V2 493 horsepower V-12 Diesel Engine

Indeed!

Oh yeah, I like this A LOT! Very unique way to give a visual tour of the model. Inspiring work, Ras!

Awesome Thud, Kevin. Now you have my attention to start/finish mine. Mr Color replenisher is a godsend for their metallic range of paints. For some reason, they seem to dry out quite a bit. I read where some say not to shake the paint after adding replenisher, but instead to stir it up. Not sure what difference it would make but I've been following the advice to stir.

Great-looking start Greg. Looking forward to your build.

Great-looking bike, Ras! So glad you finished her up and gave it the spot she deserves on your display shelf.

The seatbelts look like the real thing. The entire model is looking very realistic in this scale with the work you are doing. I like it a lot. Ive been thinking there must be a better way to model the Tamiya snap on tie rod ends. These parts from Tamiya disappoint me.

Oh, by the way, if you have a subscription to the internet streaming service, MGM+, you can watch the film titled, "The One That Got Away", a British production about the story of von Werra. My wife and I will watch it today as it sounds very interesting. Quite an escape artist was von Werra.

Outstanding model. Now you got my attention and will read up on the von Werra story as I am unfamiliar with it.

Hmmm...There you go. That's a thought worth considering. I've got a feeling the internals would need a whole lotta love to pull that off. This is a reasonable facsimile as it is, but lacking in many details that would need to be made from scratch.

Thanks Alan to get the engine block firmly seated on the divide along the center of it, glue is going to be required. Same for the cylinder head, front crank/engine block housing, as well as the oil pan. Not sure why I should add the internal parts except that the crankshaft needs to be there. The rods, pistons, and cylinder sleeves will never be seen once the engine is complete and mounted on the chassis. I am still waiting on the parts I ordered from ModelMotorcars. Hope this isn’t the normal waiting period from them.

Edward Scissors Hands built that. 🙂

Works just fine on my end. Very interesting, too.

That looks super nice!

Those details in the wheelhouse add a lot for the model.

Beautiful!

Well check this out...in my earliest years, I worked as a surveyor, doing mostly construction projects rather than land surveys. From the old men who were master surveyors, chiefs, I learned that the early measuring instruments were known as "chains" and were 66 feet in length. (our modern chains then were 100') One length of the chain (66') in width by 10 lengths of the chain in depth (660') 66 X 660 = 43,560 sq. ft., one acre. 80 lengths of the chain (66' X 80) = one mile. 6 miles X 6 miles = 36 sq. miles On our maps, everything is divided by sections (one sq. mile) and a Township and Range = 36 sq. miles What becomes quickly obvious is that all our measurements are evenly divisible by 6 and were designed to be that way since who knows how long ago. For what purpose or reason, I'm not certain but 6 is a very prominent number that was given much significance.

I have been told that the ancient builders, masons, were the forerunners of what we know today as the Masonic Order. The Blue Lodge. Today the Masonic Order uses symbolism to teach morality whereas the ancient ones used the actual tools in their work. The compass and square are symbols of Free Masonry, but the actual tools have been around for millennia. The masons of old took a solemn oath to never reveal their secrets of construction and nothing was written down. The masters of the craft we would know today as the architects or engineers. All their knowledge of the craft was kept inside their heads, never in writing. It was their way of protecting their craft and keeping themselves in demand.

Looks very convincing! Nice work, Rob.

Beautiful! Great work Kevin.

I wonder what type of tools they had in those days to keep everything on line and level. There is a lot of complicated engineering involved on something like this, not to mention logistics. It makes our architecture of today seem uninspired and "ordinary" by comparison. There's a whole lot of character in these magnificent structures which were built in a time when men's primary goals were just simply having the next meal (or so it would seem). There's a whole lot about ancient history that's hard for me to comprehend. I love your model project, Alan. It's inspirational.

That's a good question but I really don't know for sure at this point. From what I've read, it's not unusual to have to go back, disassemble, refit, and reassemble various sub-assemblies as you're moving forward with construction of one of these. I've read this is particularly true of the chassis and body panel assemblies. Every single screw location needs to be drilled out, then threaded before assembly. It seems to me some glue is going to be essential and maybe lots of it could be glued together and use no screws but certainly not all of it.

The supercharger screws to the side of the engine block and hooks up with the intake. When you dry fit the head to the engine block, you find that the head does not seat properly to the block and needs to slide forward about 2 or 3mm. In order to do this, the holes where the screws go through the engine block to attach the supercharger must be elongated to allow the blower assembly to slide forward those few MM to allow the head to fit the block.

The model is designed to fit together with machine screws but lots of massaging is required to make that happen. I can see why some of it goes together with screws as it's necessary to fit, adjust, refit, then rinse and repeat. Some of the engine internal working features seem unnecessary as once it's all completed, they will never be seen. From everything I've read, getting all the chassis parts, drivetrain and body panels to fit will be a real challenge.